American brand Aéropostale comes to India

New Delhi: American youth brand Aéropostale opened doors in India with its first flagship store at Select City Walk here. The outlet was inaugurated by Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor.

Arvind Lifestyle Brands Ltd launched the brand in India on Saturday. The store offers a wide range of clothing and accessories from their fall- winter 2015 collection for men and women.

“We are excited to bring Aéropostale, the iconic American brand to India’s youth. We are thrilled to have partnered with Arvind Lifestyle Brands Limited. Arvind brings tremendous knowledge and expertise to building brands and operating licensed stores in India.

Aéropostale plans to expand throughout India through its partnership with Arvind Lifestyle Brands Ltd. And the expansion plans include the opening of approximately 30 standalone stores and 25 shop-in-shop locations over the next three years.

Known for its jeans, hoodies and t-shirts, Aéropostale will target 14 to 25-year-old young women and men in India.

“We look forward to this exciting launch and continuing our rapid growth throughout the country,” Kenneth Ohashi, senior vice president, International and Global Licensing at Aéropostale, Inc. said in a statement.

The report also highlighted that India uses the largest amount of groundwater -- 24 per cent of the global total and the country is the third largest exporter of groundwater -- 12 per cent of the global total.

Global groundwater depletion - where the amount of water taken from aquifers exceeds the amount that is restored naturally - increased by 22 per cent between 2000 and 2010, said the report, adding that India's rate of groundwater depletion increased by 23 per cent during the same period. Pixabay

As many as one billion people in India live in areas of physical water scarcity, of which 600 million are in areas of high to extreme water stress, according to a new report.

Globally, close to four billion people live in water-scarce areas, where, for at least part of the year, demand exceeds supply, said the report by non-profit organisation WaterAid.

This number is expected to go up to five billion by 2050, said the report titled “Beneath the Surface: The State of the World’s Water 2019”, released to mark World Water Day on March 22.

Pure water droplet. Pixabay

Physical water scarcity is getting worse, exacerbated by growing demand on water resources and and by climate and population changes.

By 2040 it is predicted that 33 countries are likely to face extremely high water stress – including 15 in the Middle East, most of Northern Africa, Pakistan, Turkey, Afghanistan and Spain. Many – including India, China, Southern Africa, USA and Australia – will face high water stress.

Globally, close to four billion people live in water-scarce areas, where, for at least part of the year, demand exceeds supply, said the report by non-profit organisation WaterAid. Pixabay

Global groundwater depletion – where the amount of water taken from aquifers exceeds the amount that is restored naturally – increased by 22 per cent between 2000 and 2010, said the report, adding that India’s rate of groundwater depletion increased by 23 per cent during the same period.

The report also highlighted that India uses the largest amount of groundwater — 24 per cent of the global total and the country is the third largest exporter of groundwater — 12 per cent of the global total.

The WaterAid report warned that food and clothing imported by wealthy Western countries are making it harder for many poor and marginalised communities to get a daily clean water supply as high-income countries buy products with considerable “water footprints” – the amount of water used in production — from water-scarce countries. (IANS)